Bride of Chucky vs Seed of Chucky

I had been on a roll writing movie comparison stories, that I decided to delve into the Chucky films, though as I stated in the beginning of this, there are rules. It's only the seven core films that are mentioned, and it will be divided into three parts, because honestly, I believe the films were divided into three phases. The first part was the original Child's Play trilogy, which covered the 1988 original, and the sequels that came out in 1990 and 1991. You can check out that story here. For Part 2, the focus will be on the fourth and fifth films, Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky.

Seven years after the third film, Don Mancini and company were back at it with Bride of Chucky, which came out on October 16, 1998. Despite the long gap between films, Bride actually takes place a month after the third film, and introduced us to Tiffany Valentine, the girlfriend/accomplice of Chucky, who coerces a cop to deliver Chucky's remains to her, and after killing the cop, Tiffany stitches Chucky back together and revives him. She mainly does so expecting Chucky to marry her, but upon realizing that Chucky had no designs on tying the proverbial knot, Tiffany torments Chucky, including presenting Chucky with a bride doll as his wife. Big mistake. Chucky gets his payback by not only killing Tiffany, he places Tiffany's soul inside that exact bride doll. Now, Chucky and Tiffany go on a quest to get new human bodies; a quest that sees them become husband and wife.

Six years later, Seed of Chucky brought the series into the 21st century, coming out on November 12, 2004. The film, as the title stated, centered mainly on the offspring of Chucky and Tiffany, Glen, who finds their parents and is horrified to learn that they're killers. In addition, the setting is Hollywood, and that alone sees Tiffany double, triple, and quadruple down on her desire to become human again. The films' two major attributes to the series. One, hilarity. While the first three films were straight horror, Bride and Seed flipped the script, as they were distributed as horror-comedies with a lot of satire and meta-humor.

As for the second addition:

This fabulous woman needs no introduction, but because she's now the undisputed Queen of horror, she'll get one. 68 years ago today, she was born Jennifer Ellen Chan, but we know her as Jennifer Tilly. Tilly was already in quite a bit at this point; having co-starred with Gina Gershon in the cult classic film, Bound, and also appearing as Samantha Cole in Liar Liar. It was a year after Liar Liar that Tilly took the role of Tiffany Valentine in Bride, and that was a huge boost to her up-and-coming career. Tilly's tenure as Tiffany has lasted almost 30 years, appearing in the last four films and the TV series. And we have Gina Gershon to thank for this, because she urged Tilly to take the role.

So without further delays, on with the comparisons:

Better Intro: Seed

Both films had good intros, and Bride's intro has me a bit emotional lately. It's for many reasons; for one, it was 1998, and I was in junior high at the time. For another, Rob Zombie's Living Dead Girl played during that intro, and I remember watching the music video for that hit back then (I was still drinking in the fact that I had cable). Plus, seeing Tiffany put Chucky back together was quite amazing. Despite those attributes, I have to give the nod to Seed, mainly because of the music. Pino Donaggio's piece in that intro reminds me of how I'm fascinated with Bill Lava's scores for Looney Tunes, it just seems to hit the right notes and tone.

Better "First Kill": Bride

The moment where Chucky eliminates Damien, Tiffany's lover in the earlier scenes, definitely shows out in Bride. Damien sees Chucky and quickly mocks him for being "so 80s," and when Tiffany mentions her past with Chucky, the teasing continues.

"He ain't big enough to handle a woman like you," says Damien.

Famous last words. We see Chucky deliver a slow, Linda Blair-esque head spin towards Damien, who is scared to death. It's followed by Chucky's first line of dialogue in seven years:

"It ain't the size that counts, asshole, it's what you do with it."

Chucky pulls out Damian's lip piercing and smothers him with a pillow, while Tiffany sadistically watches. I play that scene repeatedly online and in my head, it's such an amazing way to bring Chucky back to the fold.

Best Damballa Moment: Bride

Both films had their Damballa moments, but the best one clearly has to be the very moment where Tiffany ended up in her doll body in Bride. Tiffany had been taunting Chucky ever since realizing that he had no intentions on putting a ring on it, with the final straw being that bride doll. Chucky gets out of his crib prison and ambushes Tiffany while she's bathing, but while Tiffany does kick Chucky out of the way, Chucky managed to electrocute Tiffany by shoving the TV set into the tub. This is followed by Chucky whipping out the Damballa chant and successfully placing Tiffany's soul into the bride doll, much to Tiffany's horror.

There are a lot of things that can be said about this moment, but I'll just say that this is yet another moment where Chucky dishes out karma. Tiffany poked the proverbial bear numerous times, and as a result, in Chucky's own words, "You got your wish. You're mine now, doll."

Funniest Chucky and Tiffany Moment: Seed

The moment where Chucky and Tiffany are awakened by Glen/Glenda in the early scenes of Seed was absolutely hilarious. Chucky laughing at their given name, "Shitface," was classic Chucky, as was his response to Tiffany asking about their parents ("Judging by that face, my guess is they're hiding."). Of course, Chucky and Tiffany are revealed as the parents, and while Tiffany embraces her motherly role, Chucky passes out. All of this and no Maury Povich in sight! What a hilarious moment from horror's power couple!

Better Cast: Bride

Bride clearly had the better cast between the two films, though Seed had a good group. Seed's bunch included Redman, Hannah Spearitt, the iconic John Waters, and Jennifer Tilly pulling double duty as Tiffany and a spoofed version of herself, while Billy Boyd provided Glen/Glenda's voice. However, Bride definitely had the better cast, which included Katherine Heigl as Jade. This was a very early role for Heigl; it was a year before she became part of the cast of the WB series, Roswell. The late Alexis Arquette, of the famous Arquette family, played Damien in this one, and I have to mention the late, great John Ritter acting against type as the immensely corrupt police chief Warren Kincaid. An argument could be made that Ritter stole this film. It's an easy one to make; Ritter always did steal the show.

Better Climax: Seed

Seed definitely had the better climax and the greatest moment ever. Everything was set up. Jennifer Tilly's voodoo pregnancy was accelerated and she gave birth to twins--a boy and a girl. So everything was set up for the family to take their vessels, but there was one person who couldn't take anymore, and that, shockingly, was Chucky. Chucky had enough, to the point where he actually said:

"If this is what it takes to be human, then I'd rather take my chances at being a supernaturally possessed doll. It's less complicated."

It only took him 16 years.

Chucky stated the drawbacks of humanity ("You get sick, you get old, you can't get it up anymore") while finally embracing his status as one of the greatest slashers of all time. With that, and his wife and offspring, Chucky says he has everything he needs, but that's not enough for Tiffany, whose ambitions remained intact to the point where she announced that she's leaving Chucky and taking their kid. Again, this was the best moment in the entire history of the franchise. Chucky, after 16 years and dropping so many bodies, gave up his pursuit of a human vessel, accepting his status as a possessed doll.

Better "Wham!" Ending: Seed

Bride had quite the end scene; Chucky was deceased, and Tiffany's burned body stayed alive long enough to reveal that she was not only pregnant, but the baby was coming. As wild as that was, it doesn't hold a candle to Seed's shocker, which takes place five years after Glen knocks off Chucky. We see Jennifer Tilly approached by her maid, Fulvia, regarding Glenda's behavior, though Jen's not hearing it. We see Jen with the Tiffany doll, which freaks out Fulvia, who says she quits. In a shocking moment, Jennifer turned heel suddenly and beat Fulvia to death with the doll, and it's followed by those familiar evil green eyes.

Tiffany had done it. In that hospital room, Tiffany managed to swap bodies with Jennifer right before the doll was struck with an axe by Chucky. At the time, we didn't know if the switch worked, but as we saw in the scene, she was successful. The scene is one of my favorite villainess moments in the franchise; I still remember being mind blown the first time I saw it, and that close up of Tiffany's evil green eyes as Donaggio's music plays was beautiful.

Bride and Seed were amazing chapters in the Chucky franchise. The two films turned what was supposed to be straight horror into a pair of black comedy films that made us laugh out loud. They were absolutely outlandish and truly delicious. Brad Dourif certainly thought so; I read he considers Bride his favorite out of the franchise. Plus, I love how Chucky looked all stitched up in the films, absolutely bad-ass. Jennifer Tilly being part of this franchise was also iconic, and choosing this day, her 68th birthday, to write this is perfect timing. Of course, as we know, the franchise didn't end there. We did receive more chapters in this saga, but that will be saved for later.